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Just a brief legal point: The annual [i]aguinaldo[/i](sp?) is provided for in the Costa Rican labor code. It’s a matter of law and it’s not optional. Nor is it a bonus. Think of it as a deferred payment of wages if that makes you feel better.
This is exactly like the mandatory 10% tip that is added to all restaurant meals. It matters not whether the service was great or ghastly, the tip is charged just the same and it must be paid.
You can love these things or hate them. It doesn’t matter. You still have to pay them.
You are exactly right. In this case the aguilado has been paid every year. The question here is whether a severance pay is due to someone who abandoned his job. He had the nerve to show up here 1 week after the aguinaldo was paid asking for $1000 as severance pay for working for me for 5 years (part time, intermittently, not always paid by me and never paid by the corporation that owns the farm). Also how does the court enforce severance pay when you don’t have a business?
I understand that the law is the law. My argument was simply one of “principal”. I think that when workers come to “expect” a bonus, whether or not it is deserved, it makes them lazy and/or less motivated to “excel” to the degree where an employer would eagerly want to pay them a bonus. I think when bonuses and tips are taken for granted then service falls off. Earning a bonus is achieved not by just “showing up” for work but by doing better than the next guy (or girl) who should not receive a bonus.
If you don’t pay, the worker/court could put a [i]denuncia[/i](claim) against you, personally, which [i]may restrict you[/i] from leaving the country.
Again, a legal point: When a worker’s employment is terminated, in virtually ALL instances, that worker is legally due severance pay. That is true whether the employee quits voluntarily, simply fails to show up, is terminated for cause, is terminated for no cause, or the employer-employee relationship ends under virtually any circumstances.
I’ve read (reliable source(s)) that employees fired for stealing, for embezzlement, for physical attacks on their employers or fellow employees, etc are still due that severance pay.
And severance pay is different from the [i]aguinaldo[/i](sp?).
Pay attention, too, to what costaricafinca has written immediately above.
costaricafinca & David are right on. We had to fire someone in 2010. We caught him drinking on the job & had written him up for this previously. The final time, we caught him as he took a sip of guaro! Even with 100% coverage on our part for releasing him, we had to pay out all the things he was entitled to. The most important thing you can do, in my opinion, is type up the payout in clear terms & have the person sign it as acceptance that you have paid out everything you are legally required to pay. That way they cannot show up a year from now saying you still owe them money.
Jessica
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